Proud Éire Óg reaping rewards of Clare contingent

The Ennis club has ten players involved with the county senior football and hurling squads

PRIDE: Clare's Shane O’Donnell. Pic: Bryan Keane, INPHO

In early March after the Éire Óg club in Ennis lost one of its great football men in Pat Fitzpatrick a knot of players who had kicked ball with the Townies over the years gathered in the bar of the Temple Gate Hotel to give their former mentor a traditional send-off.

Over many hours they talked football and about the players and teams that had helped raise the profile of the game in a town that was never short of hurling heroes that represented the county, but never managed to produce as many elite footballers to make the grade.